Jimmy Carter wrote about voting irregularities decades ago in Georgia in one of the earliest books he wrote after his presidency.

I see that BB is keeping up with his reading in The Sun and The National Enquirer.

We weren't able to evict any of the Republican headliners here in Texas, but an interesting thing happened in Dallas. It looks like a lot of folks there voted straight Democratic tickets. It wasn't enough to get rid of the governor and his ilk in the region, but it knocked almost every Republican judge out of a job. Democrats who had done only half-hearted campaigns because they thought they couldn't beat the long-standing Republican bench didn't take into account voter anger at Bush. Here is a Dallas Morning News article (it may require a free registration to read it.) Here's the bottom half or so of it:

Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said he was mildly surprised by Tuesday night's outcome, as he had anticipated the county's Democratic conversion would be two or four years away.

He attributed the Democrats' edge to the county's growing minority population and "the general tide in the favor of the Democrats nationally." He also pointed to a large contingent of straight-ticket voting, noting that most voters generally lack the time and interest to learn about dozens of judicial candidates and instead prefer to choose a slate from one party or the other.

He also said the Hispanic marches and voter registration drives from earlier this year played a modest role, although fewer than 7,500 new voters with Hispanic surnames eventually registered in Dallas County, according to county records.

Burl Hawkins, 43, of Dallas, said he was among several people he knows who voted a Democratic straight ticket.

"We are the kind of voters everyone hates," he said. "In general, Democrats are unhappy with the current administration. Bush is in denial. He needs a slap in the face to wake up."

At Graham's Barber Shop No. 6 on Martin Luther King Boulevard, manager Carl Simon said he voted a split ticket, but speculated that most people are upset about the war – "too many of those boys have been killed over in Iraq" – and voted strictly for Democrats.

"You have people who are still mad about gas prices," said Robert Rosenthal, 62, of Dallas, as he waited for a trim. "You had people pawning rings so they could buy gas. It was also about (Hurricane) Katrina. You had people looking at the TV and saw people struggling. That wasn't good."

Some DallasNews.com readers said they were disappointed with the revolution that handed losses to talented Republican leaders and judges and suggested that voters made their decisions thoughtlessly.

"Bush has nothing to do with our district attorney, county judge and other local elected officials. This is a sad day," said one.

Mr. Jillson scoffed at the idea that Dallas County voters blindly cast ballots based solely on national politics. And he said it would be risky for local Republicans to draw that conclusion.

"If the Republicans are going to claw their way back … the last thing they want to say is they lost because the voters are uneducated or misinformed," he said. "They're in sort of a dangerous mindset at this point. They can talk themselves into a permanent minority status."

SRS